Outside the Barrier . . .
"Hey, what the hell?" Darvin kept staring at the programming. "It went off."
"What?"
"It went off. Damn! I had the bat go in too late. The target missed that whole conversation."
"Damn, dude. Your paycheck is toast this week."
"No, no. I got this. Okay? All I gotta do is have the bat come running out and telling Sans that he bought the last pack and that he needs it for his pregnant wife. He'll try and buy it back."
"Haven't you bothered with the bat's profile? He doesn't make enough to buy more than one a week. He's also not the type to run out and ask for help. With that personality, you'll have control of him, maybe three minutes. Tops."
"Well, it doesn't matter. Maybe the skeleton will think it's an act of mercy."
Inside the Barrier, outside Special Times . . .
"Uh, hey, hey!"
Sans looked back and watched a bat run up to him. "Sup?"
"Hey, I need that. You've got the last pack," he said. "That's for my preg-hey wait!"
"Look, I don't have time to chit chat," Sans said. "In a bit of a hurry, got to get this to someone."
"But you don't understand. My wife will die without that."
"No, she won't," Sans corrected him. "Lady in the shop said no one can die from cold spells."
"Well, can I buy it back?"
"No. Look, chum, I'm sorry," Sans said, still walking. "It's not happening. Your wife's monster, she can deal with the cold spells easier. I'm dealing with a human."
"A pregnant human? Oh, so they go through the same thing, huh?"
"What?" Sans finally stopped. "What are you talking about?"
"That's what the matches are for. Pregnancy," he said. "Your human must be pregnant, right?"
"Naw. No way." Sans shrugged and kept walking. "Just a side effect to her soul being messed up."
"Oh, come on, man. She's pregnant, just admit it," the bat continued to try.
What the heck was this guy's problem? "It doesn't matter what I think. These sticks aren't yours."
"Just believe she's pregnant though."
What? Why did he have to believe that? What concern was it of this bat's in the first place? It looked like he was more interested in Frisk being pregnant than the matches. "I gotta get going, pal. Better luck next time. Maybe get a few individuals."
"Individual what?"
"Matches."
"Oh." The bat blinked a bit. "Matches. Yeah, I have to get some for my wife." He turned around and headed toward the shop, like he hadn't just begged Sans for his.
Creepy.
Outside the Barrier . . .
"Damn, he didn't believe it." The guy rubbed his face in frustration. "Now what?"
"Use Toriel. Make the queen tell him Frisk is pregnant."
"I'm not good with her." He stretched out his hands. "My 'feels', it never does good with her. And how would she know? She wasn't there to check her with the chills when they went back with the goat."
"Elkin monster. Brush up or ship out. You can't stand out. You can only manipulate so much. And she was, she was taking a nap."
"Well, okay. I could have the princess say something like 'mom, I'm cold. Can you check my soul'?"
"No, that was why the Elkin was set up right there and then. It didn't work though. It's like something's been messing with our programming of the barrier game."
"Yeah. That'd be me."
"What?"
Amanda pulled the identifications off of the two barrier guards. "Didn't think you'd see my ass again, did you? Hey, Jeanine, catch." She tossed one of the ID's to Frisk's mom. "We just need it to get clearance to the next door."
"But will they figure it out this time?" Jeanine asked as she clipped the ID on. "They were right here, on the surface. Everything was the exact same, why didn't any of them see it?"
"Poor Caleb was with them. Poor fella." Amanda stroked her cheek. "I heard Asriel came up too, as himself. Boy, that would have been great to see."
"Yes. I suppose."
"Don't worry, we are getting closer."
"We didn't make it soon enough though, Amanda."
"Did what we could." Amanda looked back toward her. "It's night. Securities low. Let's go." She used the card to open the next room and started messing with the dials. "We'll take down the intelligence level by about sixty percent."
"Sixty percent?"
"We need them to figure it out tonight." Amanda patted Jeanine on the back. "Cheer up. She's almost out of this nightmare. So is Sans."
"I can't take this, Amanda. It was all real, the whole time." Jeanine brought out a handkerchief. "All those years Frisk tried to tell me, and I never believed her. It wasn't until that bastard actually tried to murder me that it mattered. Just when you think you know someone."
"They'll figure it out soon. Securities lax, they believe the program is without flaw."
"But Frisk-"
"Can't change anything. I'm sorry." Amanda adjusted it again.
"But you could have. You tried to."
"It was all a setup. I didn't even know what Caleb was doing contacting me. I was desperate. I couldn't save myself, I had no hope, so I wanted to save Frisk and Asriel. I had no idea they were using me to play the part. I didn't, I really thought Caleb had those six other souls." But, it wasn't to be. She thought Frisk's father and Caleb had made a plan together to finally make her crack and use her power. "I lived on the mountain, but I was pretty blind. Almost as blind as Frisk."
She was just playing a part. The barrier had been expanded, and a second one was brought past the King's Palace. It was all just a ruse though. Magic and programming, even she'd been fooled. And that? That made her hella mad!
Waking up far away and institutionalized under heavy drugs, Amanda found herself again when Jeanine found her two weeks ago. As soon as she came to her senses, she realized the top layer of her soul had been returned back. She was completely human, which meant no more soul power. They returned to Mount Ebott to find Caleb Hunter a blank shell. His whole brain was manipulated with magic and programs, he was barely human anymore. Believing himself to actually be in charge of everything, he even barked orders at Krisp E. Cream and Papyrus in Frisk's house, and had even redecorated it a bit, thinking he'd been decorating it all along.
That poor schmuck. It didn't pay to work with the wrong people.
But it didn't pay to work with the right people either. Not when their goal was just as selfish. "Jeanine, I need you to hold that lever on the right higher. Sans will figure it out first, I'm sure of it. Frisk won't be far, but it's also going to be night time. Sans should be returning home soon from the day. Papyrus will be the guinea pig."
"That's his . . . brother."
"Yeah."
"Okay. Then. When they come out?"
"I'll handle it, Jeanine. They are not going to be happy. I don't know exactly what their next move will be, but I doubt it's going to be staying right here anymore. After they are secure, I'll get back to Asriel. He should still be under. I'm not losing my brother, I refuse to do it."
"You have my daughter's determination."
"Yeah. We were quite a pair back then," Amanda laughed. "Okay. So. The current program is being deleted as we speak, and Sans is about to have a conversation that he'll never soon forget."
Inside the Barrier, Sans and Papyrus' House . . .
What a strange day. After Sans said goodnight to Frisk and got his paycheck, he thought back to that bat incident. That guy was off his rocker. First he says I got the last pack, then he goes right back to the shop like he wasn't even bugging me for any. Well, just a funny thing. Sometimes it happened. "Hey, Papyrus," he said as he came through the front door. "Sup?"
"I'm making Artisan Spaghetti for dinner!" Papyrus said excitedly.
Dinner? "Uh. I ate. New job runs longer hours. Got two days off though," Sans said. He looked toward the kitchen. He really was making dinner. "It's Ten thirty. Why are you making dinner? Let's go wind down in front of the TV."
"Oh, hello Sans!" Papyrus looked behind him at Sans again. "I'm making Artisan Spaghetti for dinner! Undyne showed me how to make it today. I think I can do it. And then, maybe one day, a human will get trapped down here and I can feed it my world class spaghetti to capture them."
What? Sans approached him closer. "Papyrus, who's Princess Frisk?"
"I don't know fairytales very well, Sans," Papyrus said. "Although, I am very good at a couple. I know Snow white. It involved snow of course! And I know Sleeping Betty."
"Sleeping Beauty."
"Although, I am very good at a couple. I know Snow white. It involved snow of course!" Papyrus stopped and looked at him. "And I know Sleeping Betty."
Sans took several steps back. "Papyrus, I'll be right back. I think I forget something at Undyne's."
"Your new work schedule?" Papyrus asked. "Undyne is not going to be happy if you already forgot your work schedule. You tried that excuse last week. Well, come home soon and we will have Artisan Spaghetti. Artisan Spaghetti. Artisan Spaghetti."
Sans trotted out of the house quickly. Anyone else. He took a shortcut into Grillby's
"Hi, Sans!"
"Greeting, Sans!"
"Hey, everybody." He went over to a pair of crack-ups that were almost always lazily hanging out on the side of the bar. "Hear about my new job?"
"Got a new job?"
"Yeah, guarding Princess Frisk."
"Uh? Who?"
"The human?"
"A human?" The bar started to chatter around itself. Like it had never heard of a human being down there before. Sans moved out of the bar into the snow, half dazed. He watched as a tiny little rabbit and it's owner came over by him.
"Good morning!" She said cheerily. "Some machines don't lie. Too bad your good one is broken. Don't fret though! Go get Frisk-y with some pizza and a beer, dude."
Pizza. Beer. Frisk-y. "Frisk." Go get Frisk. What the heck is going on? "Good morning, lady. Where can I get a brewski or two around here?"
"I here the surface is a pretty good place to find what you're looking for." Then, the lady seemed to snap out of it. "Hello, sir. Pardon me." She took off like she said nothing.
Surface. Frisk. Beer. Pizza.
Sans took off as quickly as possible to the Ruins.
The Ruins, Frisk's Room . . .
"I'm sorry."
Frisk opened her eye toward her mother, feeling her mother Toriel gently stroke her cheek. "Mom?" She rubbed her eye and yawned. "What's wrong?"
"I'm just sorry. I'm sorry I never believed you. I'm sorry I put you through all this," her mother said. "Sans will be coming soon. You better go with him." Her mother blinked. "Frisk?" She looked around herself. "Oh. Goodnight hon. I guess I just worry about your sleeping spells sometimes, so I came to check on you. Goodnight." She left out the door.
"Um. Night." What was that? Never believed me about what? Put me through what? Sans is coming? Then, just goodnight? That didn't make any sense at all. Maybe she was half asleep still. Frisk went back to closing her eyes.
"Look alive, ladykid, we've gotta go to the surface."
Frisk looked toward her door and saw Sans waiting there. What?
"I know it don't make no sense, but you're just going to have to trust me on this one." Sans reached his bony hand out toward her. "Something's wrong and I don't mean like a little wiggle, something big."
Strange. But. "Mom just mentioned you'd come," Frisk said, "but then it was like she didn't remember she said that. She said that she was sorry she never believed me either. I thought I was half dreaming."
"Yeah. Papyrus was my giveaway. Clear giveaway. Come on, ladykid, your hand."
Surface . . .
The hole was open, but Frisk didn't like going in it. "I don't want to get trapped here, Sans."
"Indulge me, Frisk. Something's going on. I just had a conversation with Papyrus and he thought it was more than eighteen years ago. Let's go check out your old home."
"Why?"
"Beer and pizza."
"Huh?"
Sans took them straight into her old home. Frisk hated it there. "I don't like this, why here?" She said. "This is Caleb's property now."
"A few creative additions, I know. But my gut says something's wrong." Sans went over toward the fridge and looked in. "Hey. You and Caleb have the same taste in beer." Then, even more disturbing. He brought out a pizza box. A familiar pizza box. He opened it up. "There's a note inside that says 'How long have you been gone'?"
Beer. Pizza. "I don't get it. Eighteen years," Frisk said. "We went back in time. Asriel has Chara's soul inside of him along with six others." She watched him head out again. It couldn't be. It had been eighteen years. Eighteen years.
Sans was busy looking through the hallway. "Pictures are gone, but there's still nail spots where they were hung up." He moved into her room and checked her dressers. "Nothing." He went deeper toward the back of the house. "You got a storage closet? Somewhere where you wouldn't have ever looked except for maybe a holiday or something?"
"I used to." Frisk moved all the way to the back through her back door. Outside her house was a storage shed. "There." There was a lock on it now. Sans went over and ripped the lock off with his magic, busting into it.
When the door opened, broken frames and pictures, an old answering machine, and anything that was real personal was in it. Jammed in it. "It would have been better to burn it. They had plans then for it."
Her pictures. Old pictures. Family pictures from childhood and past. Her life. Frisk bent down and touched one of the pictures. She gulped and tried to sort out what was going on in her mind. "Eighteen years."
"Not years." Sans tapped his slipper lightly. "How?"
"Now that you're finally out, I'll tell you how."
"Huh?" Frisk looked up and could not believe what her eyes saw. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be. "Chara?"
End of Chapter